The towering black waterfalls continuously dripped from the sky, gradually dyeing the earth black.

The spurting black liquid flowed along the array's patterns, spreading outward from the formation's edges.

The demi-humans felt the sky darkening and couldn't help but look up.

The giant eye seemed capable of seeing through everything.

Ethereal starlike points began rotating, moving toward endless blackness.

A calm yet heavy voice, mixed with slight labored breathing, slowly descended from the dark depths of the pupil.

That mysterious voice was like a carving knife, continuously affecting their consciousness.

"Ha—bi—ka"

Black tentacles wildly whipped through the sky, approaching the ground along the reverse-flowing waterfalls.

Their identical color made them distinguishable only by their vague outlines.

The mysterious black tentacles climbed onto the demi-humans' bodies, completely wrapping them from head to toe.

No one could resist these mysterious creations.

They were completely immersed in darkness, unable to see each other clearly.

They could only let the tentacles begin to corrode their bodies.

Wrapped in darkness, they felt their bodies being peeled away layer by layer, their souls exposed with nowhere to hide under that eye.

Their limbs weakened, growing increasingly limp.

Their bodies seemed marked with some mysterious brand, a burning sensation rising from their hearts.

As the tentacles gradually withdrew from their bodies, they involuntarily prostrated themselves on the ground.

The posture was like worshipping something in the sky.

The extremely black and giant vertical eye looked around, tightly contracting its pupil.

After an unknown time, that power surged like a tide from the blackness below, entering through their feet and palms, gradually flowing back through their limbs.

They felt control returning to their bodies and slowly raised their heads.

The huge mysterious eye in the sky had vanished without a trace.

In its place hung a bright moon high above.

Pure moonlight pierced through the dark clouds, falling onto the dim ground and their dazed faces.

They completely regained their senses, consciousness returning to reality.

Looking up, they slowly gazed forward.

Viktor stood before them.

That terrifying twisted crow still perched on his shoulder.

As if nothing had happened.

But the scenes they had experienced were deeply imprinted in their minds.

Just recalling them made their bodies shiver.

As if those black tentacles were caressing their bodies all over again.

"Now, respond to me."

The cold voice belonging to the man before them rang in each demi-human's ears.

They looked at the indifferent Viktor, trembling involuntarily.

Reverence suddenly rose from their hearts, spreading throughout their bodies.

Several cat girls gently shifted their bodies.

*Clank*

The sound of armor rubbing came from their bodies.

Instinctively raising their arms, they found the seemingly warm red blades somehow gripped in their hands.

An amazing power slowly transmitted from their forearms, supporting them.

The demi-humans fell silent.

They looked at their companions around them, almost all wearing the same armor and holding identical weapons.

Finally, they looked at Viktor and responded.

One cat girl knelt before Viktor on one knee.

Then the remaining shadow guards behind her uniformly bowed their bodies.

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

The demi-humans unanimously knelt before Viktor on one knee, one hand placed on their chests while the other wrapped behind their bodies.

This was their exclusive pledge of loyalty.

Viktor smiled with satisfaction.

Under the moonlight, his shadow stretched very long.

That mysterious black shadow seemed to split into a grin, appearing incredibly mysterious and sinister.

.......

"How did you manage to do that?"

After the ritual ended, Lia found Viktor with great confusion and asked the question in her heart.

Lia wasn't among the ritual's targets, so she didn't know what those demi-humans had experienced.

At this moment, Viktor stood in the center of the training ground.

And around him was now completely empty.

The mansion temporarily couldn't accommodate so many demi-humans, so Leon had to lead the newly pledged followers to other lodgings.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Until the new courtyard was built, there would be a place that could house many demi-humans.

When Viktor told her to bring a group of demi-humans, Lia couldn't believe it herself.

Viktor actually wanted to establish his own private guard unit with a group of demi-humans.

While counts could reasonably recruit private soldiers to protect their territories, most counts would train knights.

This was the origin of family knights.

Magic corps like Duke Levi's were quite rare, as they required many magic users to form.

Initially, Lia thought Viktor would recruit some mages to form his own mage corps.

But Viktor didn't do that.

Instead, he chose a group of difficult-to-tame demi-humans.

Although demi-humans resembled humans, they were full of wild nature.

This was a major reason why humans couldn't treat them as normal people.

Even after training, most of their wild nature wouldn't be suppressed.

Preserving this wildness actually made group activities easier for pack-oriented demi-humans.

This resulted in demi-humans having poor discipline and being difficult to control.

Basically, they would only listen to Lia's commands.

After all, demi-humans understood gratitude better than humans.

Lia thought Viktor would need more time to completely tame these demi-humans.

But unexpectedly...

In just one night, they all pledged loyalty to Viktor.

Lia was very curious about what Viktor had done.

Viktor simply explained:

"Personal charisma."

"???"

Lia gave Viktor a disdainful glance and said sarcastically:

"You're qualified to say that?"

In Lia's eyes, Viktor's only redeeming qualities were his good looks and powerful magic abilities.

Her improved attitude toward him later was because Viktor gradually became more human-like.

Well, he was quite excellent now.

Fine, she had to admit, the current Viktor wasn't bad.

At least she didn't dislike him.

But demi-humans weren't creatures who would submit just based on that.

Viktor glanced at her and explained again:

"Beasts have a sense of competition,"

"If their strength is equal, or there's only a small gap, they'll fight each other."

"But if there's an obvious disparity in strength."

"Like this."

As he finished speaking, Viktor extended one hand.

Around his wrist, a red light gradually emerged.

Two flames suddenly burst forth.

Red flames danced in the air.

One flickered for a moment before taking the form of a hellhound, its body flickering with orange flames.

The hellhound kept barking fiercely at the other flame.

But then, the other primal flame began spreading outward like through blood vessels.

The red patterns gradually constructed an extremely muscular tiger.

That fearsome tiger merely stood there, head held high, proudly looking at the hellhound before it, not even breathing heavily.

The flame-wreathed hellhound tucked its tail, lowered its head, and prostrated itself, not daring to move.

Seeing the state of the tiger and hellhound, Lia understood somewhat and said:

"So you're comparing yourself to the tiger."

"No."

Viktor said calmly.

"Not just that."

Suddenly, the original hellhound was infused with magical power, its flames growing several times more intense.

The hellhound's size gradually increased until it reached a height that two tigers stacked couldn't match.

The flames burned with fury.

Everything around seemed completely illuminated, the temperature rising rapidly.

Lia felt the surrounding heat, even breathing becoming somewhat difficult.

Squinting her eyes, she saw two fierce heads grow from the fire hellhound's shoulders.

Abyssal maws dripping with flickering flames continuously fell, scorching the ground below until it cracked.

Flames kept bursting forth, as if expressing endless rage.

The towering firelight lit up the night so brightly that even the moon became dim.

The nearby tiger, seeing the hellhound transform this way, lowered its head in fear, its tail no longer swaying.

But perhaps due to its pride as king of the forest, it still growled softly at the three-headed dog.

The flame-covered cerberus merely glanced at it.

Instantly, it transformed into endless violent flames, completely devouring the tiger.

And this made itself grow even larger.

The flames grew and burned fiercely.

The three-headed dog opened its three giant maws toward the sky and howled.

"Awoooo——!!!"

The piercing cry accompanied by high temperature echoed throughout the entire mansion.

Lia stared blankly at the three-headed fire dog.

"What... what creature is this?"

"The guardian of hell—Cerberus."

Viktor waved his hand casually, and the flames gradually dispersed.

Only red and black spark fragments remained, slowly dissipating in the air.

He turned around and gently patted Lia's shoulder.

"When there's a chance, I'll get you a real one."

"?"

Lia stood dumbfounded, watching Viktor's back with confusion.

As he slowly walked back toward the mansion.

......

Just as dawn was breaking, the Delin mansion began operating like clockwork.

Gwen stood in the training ground holding her sword, preparing to train.

But she kept feeling unmotivated.

As if her mind was elsewhere.

Since returning from the Northern Territory and being summoned by Emperor Aubrey.

She had been in this inexplicably irritable state.

Even holding her sword had become somewhat unstable.

Perhaps because recently, she felt her strength had reached a bottleneck.

Many mistakes appeared in movements she had practiced countless times.

"...Viktor."

She gripped her sword tightly, looking at the empty ground ahead.

This morning, Viktor hadn't come again.

Viktor hadn't come to practice with her for a long time.

She could understand, after all, the Kravina family hadn't been peaceful lately.

She closed her eyes, trying hard to recall the feeling of practicing with Viktor.

Only then could she feel all her muscles being fully engaged.

While Gwen continued her sword training, a maid hurriedly came to her side.

Lowering her head, she spoke to Gwen extremely respectfully:

"Family Head."

Since inheriting her father's title, the servants had changed how they addressed her.

Although she had emphasized that they could address her as usual.

But these servants felt that only the title of Family Head could emphasize her status.

Could remind her at all times.

She was no longer just an ordinary knight.

Now she was Countess Gwen Delin.

A knight countess who controlled vast territories in the North.

She stopped her sword practice, wiped her sweat, and turned to look at the maid.

The maid kept her head bowed respectfully, presenting a letter with both hands.

Gwen was somewhat puzzled, but the maid said:

"This is an invitation from the Kravina family."

"Count Viktor hopes to have dinner with you tonight."